Memory Monday: Cooper

This one goes out to the coolest dog EVER.

Yeah, I'm no longer what you'd call a "dog person." I know Cooper really annoyed me towards the end of his life, but Cooper was pretty much amazing. :)

For those of you who haven't met Cooper, lemme tell you a little more about him.

We got Cooper when I was 3 years old. I actually faintly remember going to the pound and picking him out.

We were *going* to name him "Copper" (after "Fox and the Hound"), but they didn't hear us right. "What? Did you say Cooper?" We liked Cooper better than Copper, anyway. :) He became my buddy, and I have a lot of memories playing with him.

He was a mixed breed: part Lab, part Chesapeake Bay Retriever, part vacuum cleaner. :P He ate EVERYTHING. Including a whole chicken, and FIRE.

No, literally, he ate a burning ham from my grandparents' burn pile. He got pretty sick, but he lived to brag about it (and brag about it we did. Who else has a dog who's eaten fire and lived???).

And, since Cooper had a tendency to eat just about anything, he was a little... well... big boned. He was slightly... overweigh--pleasingly plum-- Ok, really, he was FAT. My Aunt Tammy affectionately described him as a potato with toothpick legs.

He liked to click around on the hardwood floors at night and keep us awake. One time my mom got so sick of it, she put socks on his feet (it still didn't work). :P

When we'd play with him outside, he used to get so excited that he'd run around in circles so fast that his butt nearly touched the ground. XD

He saw most of us as babies, and watched us grow up. He was there for most of my life. When he got older, he kind of lost it: his hearing wasn't very good, he'd pee in the house and do other things that just weren't really like him. He kept getting older, and it was easy to get very, very impatient with him.

But... as annoying as that last year was, as much as he made me want to scream in frustration...

Sometimes I still forgetfully wait for him to greet me at the door.

Fire pic: http://www.komu.com/images/news/2012-01/fire.jpg